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350 EARTH is a global project to put art and creativity at the center of the growing movement to stop the climate crisis. 350.org launched the 350 EARTH project in November 2010 in the lead up to the UN Climate Meetings in Cancun, Mexico, coordinating over a dozen major public art pieces large enough to be seen from space.

Please contact us to learn more about 350.org's ongoing work to combine arts and activism, as well as updates on future projects with 350 EARTH:

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Putting the "Art" Back in Earth
Climate Campaign 350.org Works to Combine Arts and Activism Around the World

In 2011, international climate campaign 350.org will continue 350 EARTH, an effort to put art and creativity at the center of the growing movement to solve the climate crisis.

Launched in November 2010, 350 EARTH brought together the first planetary art show for the climate. The show, organized in the week prior to the UN Climate Meetings in Mexico, included over a dozen major public arts events designed to push world leaders to think more creatively about solving the climate crisis.

“Art can convey in a different way than science the threat that climate change poses to our planet,” said 350.org founder and environmental author Bill McKibben. “The world’s best scientists have tried to wake-up politicians to the climate crisis, now we’re counting on artists to help.”

Each art installation was designed to be large enough to be visible from space and the majority of the projects were photographed by satellites operated by a Colorado based company, Digital Globe. The satellites traveled at 17,000 miles per hour nearly 400 miles above the Earth, giving organizers a window of a few minutes to make sure their art installation was a success.

The project began on November 20 with a human “flash flood” in Santa Fe, New Mexico and an artistic recreation of a young climate refugee’s face in Delta de Ebro, Spain. Following events included a Solar Eagle taking flight in Los Angeles; a “Cool Roof” mural in New York City; a giant green footprint in Vancouver; an organic farm planted in the shape of a “350” in Texas; a sinking home on the beaches of the Dominican Republic; a human hurricane in Mexico City; an enormous elephant in New Delhi; a scarab beetle in the desert outside Cairo; a polar bear on a melting glacier in Iceland; and, in an event conceived of by Radiohead lead singer Thom Yorke, an image in the UK of King Canute, a legendary ruler who attempted to hold back the sea.

“The first pictures of Earth from space helped launch the modern environmental movement,” said McKibben, at the time. “We hope these art pieces can help spark a new movement to solve the climate crisis. Art is not a substitute for political action, but it can help build a public movement that can begin to apply real pressure.”

That movement will continue in 2011. 350.org is working to find new ways to integrate arts and creativity into its campaign, from providing downloadable stencils to local organizers to planning more massive art displays around the world.

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More information on 350.org and DigitalGlobe:

350.org uses the internet and creative campaigns to build a grassroots climate movement across the planet. Over the last two years, the campaign has organized more than 15,000 events in 188 countries. 350.org is named after the goal of reducing the concentration of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere from its current level of 390 parts per million to below 350 ppm, what scientists say is the safe upper limit for the planet. 350.org was founded by American writer and environmentalist and a team of college friends in 2008.

DigitalGlobe is a leading global provider of commercial high-resolution earth imagery products and services. DigitalGlobe’s advanced satellite constellation provides insight and support for a variety of programs related to environmental monitoring, civil agencies, mapping and analysis, infrastructure management, and Internet portals and navigation technology. Countries around the world use DigitalGlobe’s imagery to track and manage natural resources, prioritize infrastructure projects, and mitigate the environmental impact of development. DigitalGlobe’s daily documentation of the Earth provides insight into the changing environment, from natural disasters to glacial change and composition, to the health of vegetation and crops, and to the effects of deforestation.

Photos

350.org has hi-res images from each EARTH Show event, including satellite photos and on-sight aerial photos. Please read the usage guidelines carefully and credit the appropriate artist and satellite company, DigitalGlobe, when appropriate.

Video

Statements of support

"The plan is to make images visible from the skies to remind those in Cancun that we're running out of time. We can't keep putting this off. – Thom Yorke of Radiohead

"The 350 EARTH project taps into human creativity and imagination–a tool that's truly needed as we confront the climate challenge and rebuild our communities." –Van Jones, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress.

"Since the 1960's the image of the earth as seen from remote space, inspiring all sorts of social change – the Gaia movement, the Greenpeace movement, the anti-war movement, and even songs like John Lennon's anthem "Imagine." In the 21st century we realize that we inhabit the image that our parents saw. With perspective comes responsibility: In turning the fragile sphere that we call home into art, the 350 EARTH project shows how we need to re-imagine the near future if we are to better understand the climate change that is rapidly occurring will impact the long term. We need to understand that all people share The Commons of this incredible planet we call home. And that is what is so inspirational about the 350 EARTH project." -Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky

"350 Earth in "common unity" exercises our exquisite right as Humans " Being Love" with energetic, and inspired style. Through art, and the universe we are shown that we are all connected. We are all made up of what the stars have given us. By using satellites to help tell a story of the possibilities of human kindness 350 Earth is seeding the next generation of hope. I love it when a world comes together." ~ Bushwalla

We believe that art is an essential part of any social movement — especially one that aims to get out in the street and get loud! Artivism keeps the climate movement creative, collaborating, and beautiful. This space is a resource for climate artivists everywhere.

Get Inspired

Past projects by climate artivists from around the world. Inspiration and ideas for how creativity can be a catalyst for social change.

Get Skilled Up

350.org is building a global climate movement. Our online campaigns, grassroots organizing, and mass public actions are coordinated by a global network active in over 188 countries. Click here to learn more about our work.